OUT on a western plain, where dwellings were far apart, a rancher was building a rude shack in which to live. His work was not skillfully done, but he was doing the best he could.
About the time he had the walls up, a young man visited him selling Bibles and Testaments. Though the rancher had no interest in the Scriptures, he was induced to buy a Testament, as he was told the book would tell him about God, and how one could be saved.
He laid the Testament on top of a scantling and by some accident it fell down between the outer and inner wall. He was a busy man, and as he felt little interest in the book, he did not take the trouble to remove the boards to get it out.
Twenty years passed and the rancher, now getting on in years still lived in his lonely dwelling. One day he was thrown from his horse and injured very seriously. Two workmen brought him home, and while one of them set off to get a doctor, the other one stayed to care for the suffering man.
He asked his attendant if he would get an ax and remove some boards from a certain place beside the door. The neighbor paid little attention to the request at first, thinking that the patient’s mind was wandering, but was finally convinced that he was rational, and did as he was asked. Upon removing the boards, the little Testament was recovered from the place where it had been hidden so many years.
“That’s it, that’s the book,” exclaimed the sufferer as he saw it taken from the wall, covered with dust and cobwebs.
He told his attendant that the one who had sold him the book had made great claims for it; that it would tell him how to meet God, and he believed this meeting to be near at hand, and asked him to read it to him.
The neighbor was as ignorant of the Scriptures as the injured man himself, but the One above, who knew the great need of the dying man’s soul, doubtless guided the reader to the right passages.
“God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
The message contained in this verse was so simple, and the ‘whosoever’ so clearly included him, that he laid hold of it at once.
What a treasure the little Testament proved itself to be to him, inasmuch as it made him “wise unto salvation.” No earthly treasure would have given him peace and comfort at such a time, or prepared him for the life beyond. The Word of God received in faith, alone could do this.
Let us raise a warning note here. Even though this man was enabled by grace to receive the gospel in his last hours, it is most unsafe to depend upon this. While one may be saved in his last hours, the many die as they have lived—without God, without salvation.
No, do not wait till the end of life. It is much happier and safer to be saved at the beginning of life, for who knows what a day may bring forth?
It is to be remembered that it was by means of the little Testament, though long neglected and hidden, that he heard the voice of God. The Lord Jesus said,
ML 07/30/1933